Architecture
Sensor Node Architecture
Battery
DC-DC
Sensor
ADC MCU
Memory
Radio
Available Devices
• MicaZ (Crossbow)
• 2.94 GHz IEEE 802.15.4 Zigbee radio
• 128 KB program memory
• 512 KB data memory
• 8 mA draw
Available Devices
• Tmote Sky/invent (Moteiv)
• 2.94 GHz IEEE 802.15.4 Zigbee radio
• 8MHz processor
• 10 KB RAM
• 48 KB Flash
Available Devices
• Stargate (Crossbow)
• Wired Ethernet
• Wifi/Cellular via PCMCIA
• INTEL PXA 255
• Linux Kernel
Environmental Monitoring Application Note
Data Interval (minutes)
Average MICA2 or MICA2DOT Current
(µA)
1 677
3 315
6 196
The XMesh network has been extensively tested both at indoor and outdoor locations. In a typical indoor test, nodes were placed at every 300 sq ft. to cover a 10,000 sq ft facility. To simulate larger distance between nodes, the radio transmit power was turned down to -6dBm. In outdoor tests nodes were spread across several acres of rugged terrain with an average density of 1 mote per 10,000 sq ft and at full radio power. Statistical analysis across many deployments shows on average greater than 90% of all traffic generated at any node will be collected at the base station without the use of end-end acknowledgements.
Stargate Base Station
Figure 4. Stargate gateway as a base station
The Crossbow Stargate gateway and microserver is an embedded Linux computer designed to be the primary access point for wireless sensor networks. The Stargate’s small form factor,
reliability, and optional communication interfaces makes it ideal for remote, environmental monitoring. A base station mote (MICA2) is connected to the 51-pin connector on the Stargate.
A resident program, XListen, takes an input stream of wireless sensor data from the base station mote and stores it in a local Postgres database.
The Crossbow Stagate can be connected to a wide-area or back-haul network in one of the following ways:
! Wired Ethernet connection
! WiFi, using a Compact Flash card (Netgear MA701, AmbicomWL1100C-CF, etc.)